|
BRENDAN GAUGHAN JOINS
RUSTY WALLACE RACING
--Truck Series
Standout to Make Bid for 2009 Nationwide
Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year
Honors--
MOORESVILLE, NC
(January 5, 2009)—Officials of Rusty
Wallace Racing, LLC (RWR) announced
today that former NASCAR Truck Series
Rookie of the Year, Brendan Gaughan,
will pilot the team’s No. 62 Chevrolet
in a full-season bid for 2009 NASCAR
Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of
the Year honors. Gaughan assumes the
ride—formerly the No. 64—driven by David
Stremme and Max Papis to a top-ten
finish in the 2008 standings.
The car number
change—from No. 64 to No. 62—further
establishes Rusty Wallace Racing’s
family-owned heritage. The No. 62 was
chosen in honor of Gaughan’s family
racing background, which includes eight
Truck Series wins while driving vehicles
fielded by his family-owned No. 62
Orleans Racing team.
Stated Gaughan, "It's
going to be very exciting for me to
drive the No. 62 again. That number has
a lot of meaning to my family that not
many people know about. My big brother
John's football number was 62 and my two
big brothers have always been my heroes
in life.
“My father has always
been into numbers as well; when we first
came up with the number back in 2001, he
loved to remind me that his lucky number
has always been eight and that “six plus
two equals eight;” he would always
remind me as if I couldn't figure that
out!
“I also feel that the
number is a tribute to Rusty. With all
of his years running the No. 2 Miller
Lite car, our replacing the four with a
two—in the same style as his old
number—makes it this an even bigger
honor for me.”
Further, the team
announced that Las Vegas-based South
Point Hotel and Spa will serve as
primary sponsor of Gaughan’s No. 62 team
for a number for races in 2009. RWR
plans to announce the complete sponsor
lineup for the No. 62 in the coming
weeks.
Noted RWR team owner
Rusty Wallace, “I’ve known Brendan and
his family for quite some time now and
they’re all absolutely first-class
people. Brendan has shown that he has
the talent to get the job done; I could
see that back in 2004 when we were
teammates at Penske. He’s a more mature
and focused driver now than he’s ever
been and we’re really looking forward to
having him as a part of our team in
2009.
“I also just can’t say
enough about Michael Gaughan and
everyone at South Point Hotel and Spa.
Mr. Gaughan is a first-class individual
and he has a phenomenal group of people
around him. Everyone at RWR is thrilled
about this new partnership and we can’t
wait to get to Daytona. I feel like our
team’s potential grew by leaps and
bounds last year; we really think that
2009 is going to be a great year for
both of our teams.”
While the driver-owner
dynamic is new, Gaughan’s move to RWR is
not his first experience with Rusty
Wallace. Gaughan was teammate to Wallace
and the No. 2 team at Penske Racing in
2004, when Gaughan piloted Penske’s No.
77 in the Cup Series.
Said Brendan, “In
2004, I had one of the greatest
opportunities of my life, to race for
Kodak and the Penske-Jasper team. While
there, I had the good fortune to be a
teammate to one of my racing heroes,
Rusty Wallace. Although we struggled,
Rusty was always there trying to help
our No. 77 team. Whether it was allowing
me to drive his No. 2 Miller Lite car in
our first test together at Rockingham,
or his testing my No. 77 car at
Indianapolis, he was always there trying
to help us improve."
In making his move to
RWR and its No. 62 Chevrolet, Gaughan
leaves his 2008 Truck Series seat with
Circle Bar Racing and its No. 10 team.
Stated Gaughan, “It
was an honor finally to meet Mr.
Mitchell and be invited into his
extended family. I will never forget
what he did for my family and me at a
very difficult time last year. I made a
promise to Rick Crawford and Lisa
Mitchell at the beginning of last year
that I would not drive for another Truck
Series team unless Circle Bar Racing
wanted to scale back to one truck.
“With that said, I
also expressed that I still had a desire
to move up in series. Racing with Rick
was a great time and had it not been for
the opportunity with RWR, I was really
looking forward to continuing in my
pursuit of victories for Circle Bar
Racing.”
In addition to its
driver and sponsor announcements, RWR
also announced several other key
personnel moves:
Brian Berry, Gaughan’s
long-time truck series crew chief, will
accompany Gaughan in his move and head
the No. 62 team in 2009.
Former No. 64 crew
chief, Dale Ferguson, will move to the
team’s No. 66 entry and third-generation
driver Steve Wallace, for 2009. Ferguson
led RWR’s No. 64 team and driver David
Stremme, to 16 top-ten finishes in 2008,
en route to a top-ten finish in the
final owners’ standings.
Former No. 66 car
chief, Shane Huffman, has returned to
the team after a brief hiatus and will
serve as car chief for Gaughan and the
No. 62 team in 2009.
# # #
About Rusty Wallace
Racing, LLC
Mooresville, NC-based
Rusty Wallace Racing is a professional
auto racing team steeped in the
legendary history of its founder and one
of NASCAR’s top-ten drivers of all-time,
Rusty Wallace. In 2008, the team’s No.
64 entry was ranked among the top-ten
overall in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
For 2009, the
organization will campaign the No. 66
and No. 62 Chevrolets in the Nationwide
Series. Its No. 66 entry will be piloted
by third-generation wheelman, Steve
Wallace and its No. 62 wheeled by former
NASCAR Truck Series Rookie of the Year,
Brendan Gaughan.
The team enjoys
backing from 5-Hour Energy, South Point
Hotel and Spa, Dannmar Equipment,
Oakley, Advanced Payment Systems and
Chevrolet. For more on Rusty Wallace
Racing, please visit rustywallace.com.
|
|
|
|
The opinions expressed
on this site are not necessarily those of the publisher. All
comments other than website related problems need to be directed to
the author. ©2000-2009 SpeedwayMedia.com.
Want to talk NASCAR? Visit our
message board! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
